10 Most Unpredictable Horror Movies, Ranked

For as great as horror movies can be, some are also a little predictable. That can be okay, because there’s something oddly comforting about knowing what you’re in for, even when you know you’re in for something horrific. Horror films have certain conventions they stick to a good deal of the time, and this has worked out for plenty of them, including series that have a certain formula (not all, but some Friday the 13th and Halloween movies come to mind).

Because of this, it’s worth celebrating those occasions when horror movies didn’t play by the rules, and that’s what the following ranking intends to do. There won’t be specific spoilers below, but knowing that a horror movie is unconventional or twist-heavy can be an arguable spoiler in itself, so tread carefully if you really hate any and all spoilers.

10

‘From Dusk Till Dawn’ (1996)

Directed by Robert Rodriguez

When From Dusk Till Dawn begins, it doesn’t give you much of an indication that it’ll become a horror movie at some point. In case you don’t know, what kind of horror movie it more or less becomes won’t be divulged here, but it is one of those instances where some of the surprise is lessened if you’re aware there’s going to be some kind of horror element… sorry!

Initially, From Dusk Till Dawn is more of a crime/thriller film, focusing on two criminals taking a family hostage and traveling with them to Mexico, which is where things take a turn into the weird. Once From Dusk Till Dawn reveals its true colors, all bets are off, making it one of the more exciting, unpredictable, and engaging films Robert Rodriguez has ever directed.

9

‘Inland Empire’ (2006)

Directed by David Lynch

Inland Empire was David Lynch’s final feature film, and might well be his strangest and most unsettling, too. Other films of his could be dreamlike, surreal, and nightmarish for sure, but there’s something else about Inland Empire that makes it a step above horror-wise. It’s a consistently unstable, incomprehensible, and avant-garde nightmare of a movie, and told across three hours, too.

It’s an endurance test for that runtime alone, but the confusing content and fractured narrative (or lack thereof) are also considerable factors in making Inland Empire so hard to pin down, let alone explain. This does make it persistently surprising and far from predictable, though the obscurity might also make you disengage completely (making it a hard movie to finish). If you’re looking for any kind of followable story, you’ve definitely wandered into the danger zone.

8

‘One Cut of the Dead’ (2017)

Directed by Shinichiro Ueda

The inverse of From Dusk Till Dawn, One Cut of the Dead starts as a horror movie and then, at a point, reveals itself to be something else. Specifically, it’s a zombie movie that’s also about the making of a zombie movie, but there’s one other layer to the whole thing that makes it really work as a movie, and not just an ambitious, low-budget, and scrappy horror flick.

Even saying that much is saying too much, but that doesn’t give away the entire game at least. One Cut of the Dead is one of those rare films where praising everything about it that makes it great would diminish the film’s impact. You just have to take everyone’s word for it and check it out for yourself, which will ultimately help you see what all the hype is about.

7

‘Titane’ (2021)

Directed by Julia Ducournau

Titane plays things about as far from safe as a movie possibly can, to the point where it’s hard to even fit this into a selection of genres, let alone one genre. For some of its runtime, at least, it functions like a psychological horror movie, following an unusual woman—with an even stranger past—who has to go into hiding following a series of alarming crimes.

There’s some body horror here, and persistent thrills early on at least, but the way Titane shifts into something sadder and more dramatic in its second half is arguably what makes it most memorable. It’s a film that gives you a lot—maybe even too much—as a viewer, wanting to challenge you on multiple fronts and ultimately emerging brutally successful in such an endeavor.

6

‘Barbarian’ (2022)

Directed by Zach Cregger

There’s a premise that initially feels too simple in Barbarian, and the film proves such a feeling to be more than justified. After all, it’s about one woman placed in a suspicious situation when the Airbnb she’s booked ends up having an occupant in it already, with Barbarian milking tension and uncertainty from this set-up for a little while, and proving pretty effective at that.

But Barbarian isn’t just a bottle movie, and by the end of the first act, it demonstrates that it’s more than willing to go to some wild places. It’s surprising, then, when Barbarian wraps back around and starts to make sense as a whole… and, all the while, the third act continues finding ways to surprise and alarm. It’s an intricately written and overall exceedingly clever horror film, perhaps even one of the best from the 2020s so far.

5

‘Hereditary’ (2018)

Directed by Ari Aster

Death is at the forefront of Hereditary right from the start, given the characters are all shown to be in a period of grieving following the death of a family matriarch. But it’s where Hereditary goes after the initial few scenes that make it surprising. It continues being about grief, in a way, but of an even more intense kind, to the point where the film’s honestly kind of hard to watch at points.

The horror elements are scary, sure, but the rawness of the emotions explored here is arguably more unsettling. It’s not necessarily surprising that Hereditary is bleak, given how it kicks off, but it’s the ferocity of its bleakness that makes it a difficult-to-shake film, and, inevitably, one of the most unpredictable in recent memory.

4

‘Scream’ (1996)

Directed by Wes Craven

As mentioned before, horror movies have certain tropes and conventions that show up again and again, with Scream being beloved because it tackles such predictable elements head-on. It’s a slasher film that also functions as a meta-commentary on other slasher movies, and the horror genre more generally, and it does all this in a way that still feels clever and admirably unpredictable.

Unlike some other hard-to-predict horror films, Scream wastes no time in throwing out the rule book, thanks to an iconic opening scene. Even after that point, the subverting of expectations continues, especially because some of the characters here are well-versed in horror movies, and are able to recognize certain patterns around them as a result. Scream is obviously an all-timer, and even if its biggest moments are common knowledge at this point, it has to be admired and recognized for how surprising it would’ve been back in 1996.

3

‘The Cabin in the Woods’ (2011)

Directed by Drew Goddard

If you enter into The Cabin in the Woods blind, you might be wondering why you even gave it a shot early on. It starts in a deliberately generic way, which is very much in line with the vague and tedious-sounding title. There are stock characters, and they’re all headed to an isolated cabin, and it’s all so by the numbers that you’ll be sure you can imagine exactly what’ll happen for the next 90-ish minutes.

But then The Cabin in the Woods pulls the rug out from under you, and while it continues being a horror movie, just what kind of horror movie it is proves wonderfully surprising. It’s a dark, sometimes funny, and overall very creative horror film, and, like Scream, it finds interesting ways to comment on certain overdone horror movie tropes.

2

‘Alien’ (1979)

Directed by Ridley Scott

A film containing one of the best (and simplest) villains of all time, Alien is just about a bunch of people on a ship, and there’s also an alien on the ship, and then bad things start happening. One might wonder how a film with such a straightforward narrative could be surprising, but therein lies the arguable magic of Alien.

Of course, it started a series, and the existence of sequels does remove some of the suspense from Alien. You might not be as shocked by what happens as people would’ve been when they saw this for the first time back in 1979, but it’s still possible to appreciate all the ways this would’ve been a shock to the system. Even now, there are moments of terror among all the eerie quiet parts that could still make modern-day viewers jumpy.

1

‘Psycho’ (1960)

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Like with Scream and Alien, the existence of sequels to Psycho can diminish some of the unpredictability found within it. Also, the most shocking single scene in each of those movies is likely to be known ahead of time, for anyone watching, given they’ve all been parodied and referenced to death. With Psycho especially, the manner in which the narrative turns is so legendary that not spoiling it here feels, honestly, a little silly.

But if you’ve somehow avoided any and all discussion of Psycho, and really don’t know what happens, you should watch it ASAP and then realize/acknowledge how lucky you are. This is easily one of the darkest and most striking Alfred Hitchcock-directed films, and the way its screenplay brazenly brushed aside certain narrative conventions—both within the horror genre and just within cinema generally—is easy to admire.

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